Ceaseless (6 page)

              
The moment her alarm had gone off I left. She’d be arriving at this building soon. I stepped around the tree I’d been leaning against and made myself visible. College girls liked lead singers. I
 had
 to dodge 
overly
-
aggressive
 females when I was on campus.

              
“Dank Walker? No way. I’d heard you’d been seen on campus but I didn’t believe it. But here you are,” a female had already noticed me. She began scrambling through her book bag. “I have a sharpie in here somewhere. Could you autograph my bag or my shirt
,
 oh better ye
t---
my bra
?
,
” she 
said as she pulled
 a sharpie from her book bag.

              
The girl 
had 
started lifting her shirt up 
before 
it dawned on me 
that 
she was serious about the bra.

              
“No. I don’t sign bras,” I held the sharpie she’d handed me and 
moved my attention from her to the students approaching the building. My eyes locked with Pagan’s. Shit. She 
saw that 
the girl’s damn shirt had been up. I shoved the sharpie back in her direction without breaking eye contact with Pagan and stepped around her. “I 
gotta
 go,” was the only explanation I gave her.

              
Pagan turned her head and stared straight ahead and hurried toward the building. I wasn’t going to let her get inside without talking to me.

              
Talk to me Pagan. Please.

              
She 
halted
. 
Talking in her head was unfair but I hated not being able to show her who I was. I wanted her to see me. I wanted her to love me anyway.

              
“Good morning, Pagan,” I said as I stopped beside her. She tilted her head to the side and peered up at me. The startled
, 
confused look in her eyes made me feel guilty. I shouldn’t have spoken to her that way. She wasn’t ready.

              
“Dank?” Her voice sounded as if she were asking a question. 

              
I reached for her book bag
,
 and in her still confused state she let me take it. Slinging it over my shoulder I nodded toward the entrance to the building that Pagan’s calculus class would be in for the next semester.  “Better hurry or you’ll be late.”

              
She shook her head then 
her eyes zoned in on the book bag now over my shoulder. A small frown puckered her brow. “What are you doing?” she asked.

              
“Taking your books inside. It looked heavy,” I 
started walking before she 
could decide she wanted her book bag back. I was carrying it inside. I wanted every male in the vicinity to see me carrying her bag. I already had to deal with the soul
 
mate. I didn’t want to be forced to see her with anyone else. I was staking my claim.

              
“Oh. Well, yeah. We got a lot of info at 
freshman
 orientation
,
 
then
 I had to go to the 
bookstore
 and pick up some books I didn’t have. This is the only class I have today. Apparently this professor is anal and doesn’t want to miss one day of class.”

              
I loved hearing her talk. When we got to the door I opened it and stepped back so that she could walk in. She glanced back toward the tree where I’d been standing when she walked up and then 
back
 at me. “I saw you with a girl and she was taking off her clothes for you? Did she change her mind and decide that stripping in public was a bad idea?”

              
The cute teasing note to her voice made me smile. “She wanted me to sign her bra. I told her I d
on’t
 sign bras
;
 then I saw you and handed her back her marker so I could catch up with you before you got away.”

“Oh,” she replied and stopped at the door marked 312. “And why don’t you sign bras?”

              
Was Pagan flirting with me? Damn
,
 
that 
mischievous
 twinkle in her eyes dr
i
ve
s
 me a little crazy. I closed the distance between us and bent my head down until my mouth was right besi
de her ear. “There’s only one bra I’d like to sign.” Pagan’s breathing hitched and I smiled to myself before standing back up. I wanted a taste. It had been too long since
 I’d had a taste of her mouth…o
f her skin.

              
I stepped inside the classroom desperate to get hold of myself. Inhaling her scent had made my senses go on high alert. Pagan stepped inside while I held the door for her. The jeans she wore cupped her ass like a second skin. It was impossible not to watch as she walked across the room. Jerking my gaze 
from 
her
,
 I scanned the other students to see who else was watching her.  I didn’t want them looking. 

CHAPTER 5 

Pagan

Was he talking in my head
, o
r had I lost my mind? I hadn’t been able to focus on anything my calculus professor had said. Luckily it 
was a
 brief welcome and a
n overview of
 the syllabus. Then we’d been dismissed. I was sure I’d missed something important but Dank Walker was beside me. Every female eye in the room was on him and my body tingle
d
every
 
time he brushed his arm against mine
, and it 
seemed 
that happened 
a lot. Almost as if he knew what it did to me and he made sure to do it just enough to keep me frazzled.

              
My 
book bag
 was still slung over his arm 
as we left, 
I was being forced to endure every fan 
who
 stopped him to ask him about his concert
, t
o slip him their number and promise him everything from a deep 
throat
 to a strip show. If it wasn’t for the fact I really wanted my book bag and I wanted to see if he talked in my head anymore now that I was fully awake so I could gauge whether or not that was real, I’d have walked off and left him to his adoring 
fans
.

              
“Follow me,” Dank said as he took my arm and 
steered me
 away from a girl in midsentence. I had to run to keep up with him as he led me toward a large 
o
ak tree behind the building. There was a 
picnic table
 underneath it. Was he hiding?

              
“They won’t notice me back here,” he explained
,
 making sure 
the tree
 was blocking him from the view of everyone else before he sat down on the picnic table. Something about seeing him sitting there 
seemed 
familiar. 
Almost as if I were 
experiencing 
d
éjà vu
.
 
He smirked as
 if he’d read my mind.

              
“I’m surprised you walked off and left that last girl. If you’d brought her back here I am more than positive you’d have gotten some pretty naughty action. She was 
getting ready
 to offer to carry 
your
 first born.”

              
Dank chuckled and shook his head, “I’ll pass. Not my type.”

              
So far I wasn’t sure what his type was. 
Not only did
 he 
seem to be 
stalking me
, 
but
 I 
hadn’t 
see
n
 him with anyone else. Was it because I was a challenge?

              
“Why the interest in me? If I offer to strip for you
,
 will that send you running away? Am I the unique toy you never got to 
play
 with?
”
 I made sure to smile as I asked. I didn’t want to sound like a jerk
,
 but I really wanted to know
,
 why me. There were plenty 
of 
girls 
available who were 
more than willing to do what he wanted
,
 when he wanted it. Dank let my bag drop to the wooden planks of the picnic table 
and
 slowly stood up. His eyes were focused on me and the 
intensity
 of his gaze almost scared me. Sometimes his eyes didn’t seem real. They seemed unnatural
---b
eautifully unnatural 
and
 haunting.

              
“Understand this, Pagan Moore,” he began in a deep sexy voice, “if you ever offer to strip for me then you will have my complete 
u
ndivided
,
 
a
ttention.”

              
Oh my.

              
Swallowing hard I managed to 
give a
 
semblance
 
of 
a nod. Dank didn’t back away
, instead he moved
 closer until I was pressed against the tree. “You aren’t a game. You will never be a game to me,” he said as he traced my jawline with the tip of his finger. The longing in his eyes was too strong. It didn’t make sense. We’d just met each other yesterday. Why did he react this way to me? 
And why did my heart go crazy when he got close?

              
“It’s been too long. I can’t not kiss you,” he whispered before his 
mouth
 covered mine. His words made no sense but that faded to the back of my mind when his tongue slid into my mouth and the rich decadent foreign taste teased my senses. My hands flew up to his shoulders and I held on
 for dear life.
 My knees were weak and I needed support
,
 but
mainly, 
I 
just 
wanted to keep him 
t
here. Just like this. I inhaled the warm dark scent that engulfed me as his body crowded mine. His teeth grazed my bottom lip and I whimpered as his lips began kissing the spot behind my ear. The heat of his breath tickled my skin. Gripping his shirt tightly I pressed closer. One of 
his 
knees slid between my legs and settled between them
,
 causing 
sparks
 of pleasure to shoot through me
.
 

              
“Ah,” I cried out as he moved his knee higher. My body trembled in response. Dank buried his head in the curve of my neck and shoulder. His heavy breathing
ac
companied by his sudden stillness told me this was about to end. I didn’t want it to end but then again the way I was reacting to an innocent kiss might mean I wasn’t ready for Dank Walker’s kisses.  I started to move and his arms tightened their hold on my waist.

              
“No. Please. Not yet. Let me have this,” the pleading sound in his voice as his words were spoken against my skin 
compelled 
me 
to do 
as he asked. Who could say no to that?

              
His heavy breathing 
mad
e
 very bad thoughts run through my head. His arms slid around me and pulled me closer as his knee lowered
,
 but his leg stayed there between mine. “Are you coming 
Friday
 night? I want you there,” he said as he finally lifted his head to look at me.

              
He wasn’t my type. He wasn’t safe. But I didn’t care. I was 
a college student
. I’d been safe long enough. It was time I gave in a little to 
the wild
 side. “Yes, I’ll be there.”

              
Dank closed his eyes in relief and a smile tugged the corner of his lips. “I was prepared to bribe you. That was easier than I thought,” he replied.

              
“Bribe me, huh? Maybe I should have held out
 longer
.”

              
Dank’s
 eyes lowered and studied my lips. “What do you want, Pagan? Just ask.”

              
Whoa. 
He was once again a little too intense.

              
“Um, well, right now I want to take a nap because I didn’t get nearly enough sleep last night.” I was sure that was not the answer he’d been hoping for but it was t
rue
.

              
Dank stepped back and I suddenly felt cold. “Don’t let Gee make you do things you don’t want to. She doesn’t require 
as much 
sleep
 as
 you do.”

              
Were they related? 
N
othing else made sense. She seemed close to him but they weren’t a couple or anything remotely close to that. “I’m a big girl. I can handle Gee.”

              
Dank let out a short sexy laugh and nodded, “Yeah. I know.”

Dank

“She doesn’t remember you either. I expected her to forget me. But why doesn’t she remember you
?
” I’d felt his arrival but I had waited until Pagan was far enough away to turn around and look at him. 

              
Leif
, the voodoo spirit that had once held a claim to Pagan’s soul
, 
stood
 several feet away from me. 
I had thought taking her from him with the warning to end his world would be enough to keep him away. The boy was verging on stupid.  “She isn’t your concern. I suggest you go back to 
Vilokan
 and play with your friends there. My patience with you is wearing thin
,
 Voodoo 
prince
.”

              
He glared at me and crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m not doing anything wrong. I’ve left her alone. I just came to see if she was okay. Before you showed up
,
 protecting Pagan had been the only life I’d ever known.”

              
Leif had been Pagan’s 
dark angel
. One she hadn’t known existed. His sick and twisted claim on her soul had been something I’d fought his father, the Voodoo lord of the dead for in his own dwelling.

              
“You
’ve
 screwed with Pagan’s future enough. She
 i
s just now learning what a normal human life is like. I’m the only one that she needs to assure her protection. I won’t tolerate you
r
 hanging around. This isn’t your business.”

              
Leif started to say more when Gee appeared 
by my side
. 
“Well look what Hell has
 done
 drug up,” she said with a sigh and plopped down on the table.  “Do I need 
to make sure you boys play nice?
 
Bec
ause I will and I’ll enjoy every 
second 
of it.”

              
Leif’s glare turned to one of hatred when he shifted his focus to Gee. There was no love los
t
 between the two of them. “She doesn’t remember you either,” Leif snarled.

              
“
Ooooh
 look
,
 
Dankmar
.  He’s still just as quick as he ever was. Doesn’t that just make us the lucky ones
?
”

              
“I’m not leaving until one of you explain to me what is wrong with Pagan,” Leif demanded.

              
Gee cackled and I knew her small bout of humor was running thin. The Voodoo prince was pushing it.  “Pagan is fine. She is finding herself without the claim of evil on her soul. “

              
Leif started to take a step forward and Gee was in his face in less than a tenth of a second. She’d moved at inhuman speed and I looked around quickly to make sure no one had 
seen
 her.

              
“You take one more step this way and I
 
w
ill
 
c
ut.
y
ou
,
” 
s
he hissed.

              
“You need to leave. This is your final warning.”

              
Leif didn’t argue. He was gone.